Saturday, November 04, 2006

CFB Saturday Live-Comment Tailgate

I've been so immersed in Florida-Vandy and Northwestern-Iowa (on the P-I-P) -- thank you, GamePlan -- that I am late in posting our weekly Live-Comment Tailgate. Have at it!

Update: How 'bout them Northwestern Wildcats! Meanwhile, I don't want ANY griping from Michigan fans this week when I vote Louisville No. 2 ahead of Michigan. Any team that lets Ball Effing State hang around isn't worthy of the No. 2 ranking. (Not like it matters: If the last two weeks are any indication, Michigan is going to get its ass handed to it by Ohio State anyway. Ball State? Come on! I shake my head at you, Michigan fans... And don't give me that "We were saving it for the Ohio St game" b.s. Ball State -- Ball State! -- was an incompletion away from taking the game to OT. What a joke. Stop griping about some entitlement to the No. 2 spot and learn how to put away the weak teams.)

Update 2: You know what? Take what I said about Michigan and apply it to Ohio St, too. I don't care that it was a conference game on the road: It was ILLINOIS! 17-10 is pathetic. Anyone who thinks that Ohio St is unstoppable is simply wrong. Based on watching them today, they could lose to Louisville, they could lose to a couple of teams in the SEC, they could probably lose to West Virginia (not that we'll ever find out). And, yeah, they could probably lose to Michigan (but not likely). But the point is: Ohio St. might be No. 1 -- unquestionably -- but that doesn't mean that OSU winning the BCS title game should be some kind of given.

Update 3: I've worked through my frustrations with both Michigan and Ohio St, and I think I agree with the general consensus on TV and online: Today was NOT a day to find style points from the top of the BCS (1 OSU, 2 Michigan, 4 Florida). And yet, doesn't that make Louisville's strong peformance in a win over the No. 3 team in the country THAT much more impressive?

Update 4: Wow. LSU's win over Tennessee was a hell of a game (particularly given LSU's last-gasp TD to come from behind on the road in Knoxville, where they haven't won since 1988), a real showcase of how good the SEC is. Particularly on a day when so many of the SEC's "name" brands (Florida, Georgia, Alabama) pooped the bed.

While I am a homer... I wouldn't put to much value into the current michigan game nor what the final score will be (unless they lose).

They are playing mostly the seniors since it is Michigans last home game, ontop of that they are doing the same thing they did in the NW game. Running practically the same play over and over and over.

While it doesn't look good in the eyes of the average fan, nor in the eyes of the voter. Michigan did the same thing at the start of the year vs vandy and CMU. Which is simply holding all their cards close to their vest. It worked when they faced ND, I think they are hoping it will work when they face OSU also.

Like the announcers said during the game; this loss only screws Michigan if they lose to OSU. Then their chance of playing for a national title is next to nothing. Oh well, a nice game to watch but if Michigan wins out the rest of the year, no one outside of Ball State will give a crap about this game

Oh well, if Louisville played in a good conference then they would have like 3-4 losses and instead Dan would be posting something like "I don't want ANY griping from Michigan fans this week when I vote Florida No. 2 ahead of Michigan."

No argument from me that today was a poor performance by Florida and it will hurt. But it was more Florida then Vandy, Florida still dominated for over three quarters. Three INTs on the opponent's side of the field will make any game close.

I still think Michigan is deserving of #2 in the country, however, comparing the Michigan game against Vandy with a QB starting his 1st game at the beginning of the season v. 10 weeks in is hard.

Is anyone else annoyed by all this Breeders' Cup coverage? yeah, ESPN, we get it, you're showing it. You don't have to waste all that space on the ticker or the front page. I'm not particularly fond of a sport where they euthanize participants while it's ongoing.

When I saw the UM and Ball State score I started cracking up. I watched Letterman's show on Thursday were he said he would give everyone in the stadium a nickel if Ball State beat Michigan. Dave is the best

Don't worry: I'm taking Florida down a few pegs, too. They are exasperating on offense. Right now, I think that there are four teams in the SEC that could beat them: Auburn and Arkansas, plus two teams that UF has already beaten (LSU and Tennessee). By the way, Tennesse got a game-changing horrible call on that replay that should have overturned the call on the field on that punt situation. They've been playing well since, but it would have been a different story down 14-7 at any point.

You can believe whatever you want to believe. If on your personal poll you wish to drop michigan to #6 for a bad game vs a bad team by all means do so. Just don't expect any competent person to do the same.

Michigan did just play with their cards close to their vest. They played lots of backups. They ran the same play over and over, and played a very basic defense then entire game.

The game was close because of 4 plays. The saftey, the interception returned for a touchdown, and two long pass plays for Ball State that ended up in touchdowns.

Other than those four plays michigan dominated just as you would expect michigan to dominate. The two long pass plays were both against michigans backup secondary to boot.

So, before you look at the final score and jump to a far fetched conclusion, see what actually happened in the game.

I do agree with what has been said though, this game was probably the best thing to happen for michigan.

So all of you dimwits who were dissing about Louisville's "unimpressive performance" against WVU can shove it. Boy, Ohio State, Michigan, and Florida sure were impressive today against the powerhouse schools of Illinois, Ball State, and Vanderbilt. So, do you apply your same idiotic thinking to these teams and knock them down a peg in the "who is most deserving a national championship bid"? Or will you take the equally idiotic and hypocritical "this is totally different" stance. I'm not saying that Louisville is better than any three of these teams, or that their less-than-stellar performances today somehow make them less championship worthy. I just hope you guys like crow. Mmmmmmmm....crow.

WHAT IS THE FU**ING POINT OF INDISPUTIBLE VIDEO EVIDENCE AS A RULE IF THEY NEVER FU**ING GO BY IT?!? IT'S FU**ING RIDICULOUS THAT REFEREES CAN SPEND 6 MINUTES LOOKING AT A PLAY, AND THEN SAY THAT THERE IS 'INDISPUTIBLE VIDEO EVIDENCE' TO OVERTURN A CALL. WELL, IF THERE WERE INDIFU**INGSPUTIBLE EVIDENCE THEN YOU WOULDN'T NEED THAT MUCH TIME.

Okay, done ranting... but still, they need to change the rule if they're not going to abide by it. I'm all for a replay system, but they need to either make the process more efficient, or they need to change the 'indisputible video evidence' rule, since they never seem to abide by that.

If you watched the Wake/BC game, I think you'd agree that there was not 'indisputible video evidence,' meaning the replay official had to be 100% sure, that there was not a fumble on the catch by the Wake TE.

Wake beats BC to go 8-1.Hurricanes win.And the Bobcats beat the Cavs! Here's a fun clip from the AP article for Dan:

"But James, who scored 35 against the Spurs, never got into a rhythm and was held to just 16 points. He shot just 3-of-13 from the floor as rookie Adam Morrison kept him off balance, forcing James to get his points at the free-throw line, where he made nine of his 10 attempts."

Anyone else concerned with Arkansas not able to put the Gamecocks away? I just get the feeling that Spurrier will find a way to get his team the victory. Not that we expected the Razorbacks to beat the Tigers and Volunteers the next two weeks, right?

How would the BCS look with a 3-loss Ark, 2-loss UT, LSU, and UF-Aub SEC Champ loser? Would a Florida-Auburn loser get an at-large BCS spot?

A common practice in bracketology is to strip away the team names and just show RPI, records (overall, non-conference, vs Top X RPI, etc) to compare multiple teams.

Now, switch the conference affiliations of the Maryland-Clemson game and the LSU-Tennessee game. In both games, the lower-/un-ranked team won on the road late in the game.Would your opinion of the game change?

13-12... what a defensive SEC struggle! Any team can play good defense and win on the road in the SEC! Especially with a wise senior QB! SEC is the best conference in the country, everyone just beats each other up all season.

28-24... just another crapfest between two ACC teams! Loose defenses let the offense march down the field. But then the QBs make mistakes to keep the other team in the game (5 turnovers, 6 offensive touchdowns). Just your usual ACC fare. Take away their BCS bid!

Take any two games, switch conferences, and apply the stereotypes. Let's see how differently we can paint the landscape of today's games.

Phil, I said that Miami must have let VT score as soon as Ore went in, but on the replay, I saw that they simply overpursued (since VT's running game is often what-you-see-is-what-you-get,), and Ore cut back and picked up a block on the way in.

Anyway, that game scared the life outta me, especially watching Wake on the second TV we had set up. VT's O-line has to regain the consistancy it showed in the 2 games prior to this one, and I dunno what has to be done about Glennon.

BC losing to Wake last night was something that I think anyone who follows (or is forced to follow) BC football knew was coming. No Tom O'Brien team is going to lose only 1 game all season and just know they'd have a meltdown against either Wake or Maryland.

Tom O'Brien is the perfect head coach for a team if you want to play a late December bowl game in Wisconsin. He's the Herm Edwards of college football and until BC learns this and sends him packing they're doomed.

Personally I couldn't care less about BC and their consistently 9-2 football team but it was fun to see another Tom O'Brien classic.

I actually think LSU might be the best team in football. I know they have 2 losses, but everytime I watch them (including the Auburn and Florida games) they just scare the crap out of me. If there were a 16 team playoff on neutral fields I think they would probably be 1 of the favorites.

As far as the top teams this week go: Illinois and Ball St aren't nearly as bad as their records would indicate. Illinois has been playing teams real tough this year as opposed to last year when they were losing but getting blown out. SLEEPER ALERT FOR NEXT YEAR: Illinois in a bowl game.

And Ball St really isn't that bad either. They could easily have another few W's than L's if the ball bounced the other way, and their 1 bad loss (North Dakota St) is actually a 1AA powerhouse

Vanderbilt also fits in there too.

Still, Ohio St and Michigan shouldn't have made it THAT close but whatever.

Last, who cares who's #s 1, 2, 3??? As long as everyone is on the same page at the end of the year and has the OSU-Michigan winner and Louisville-Rutgers winner (as long as they're undefeated) as 1 and 2.

As long as everyone is on the same page at the end of the year and has the OSU-Michigan winner and Louisville-Rutgers winner (as long as they're undefeated) as 1 and 2.

I think it's pretty clear that not everyone's on that page at all. Hell, I know the coaches aren't--they have Texas ahead of Louisville still. Granted, I'm sure they'll jump Louisville up to 3 if they beat Rutgers, but it's a little silly at this point to rank Louisville behind a one-loss team, especially one from the Big 12.

I guess it just comes down to a heirarchy for #2. In my opinion, Louisville has the inside track, followed by a one-loss SEC Champ. Then, if the SEC Champ has 2 losses (or, like with Florida, keeps looking like crap), the nod goes to an undefeated Rutgers. After that, a one-loss PAC-10 champ and a one-loss Texas are the other worthy contenders.

That being said, it looks to me like a one-loss PAC-10 team will pretty easily be #2 in the BCS--the computers love them, and Cal and USC both have enough left to impress the human voters too.

wow talk about overracting after 1 game. nevermind OSU just steamrolling every other game(win by 17 at least) OSU is still clearly the best team in the country, saying that louisville could beat them (with that crazy good defense) is hysterical. hopefully you will get your mind right come monday

Here's something to think about: Right now Texas is ranked #4, behind OSU, Michigan, and L'ville in the BCS. If Louisville loses to Rugters, and OSU beats Michigan by, let's say, 2 TDs, then Texas gets to (presumably) play OSU in the nat'l championship game instead of Michigan for the sole reason that they lost earlier in the year. Am I wrong in predicting this scenario?

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.